Reddit (/ˈrɛdɪt/) is an American sociaw newsaggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Reddit's registered community members can submit content such as text posts or direct winks. Registered users can den vote submissions up or down dat determines deir position on de page. Submissions wif de most up-votes appear on de front page or de top of a category. Content entries are organized by areas of interest cawwed "subreddits". Subreddit topics incwude news, science, gaming, movies, music, books, fitness, food, image-sharing, and many oders. The site prohibits harassment, and moderation reqwires substantiaw resources.[4]

Overview

The site is a cowwection of entries submitted by its registered users, essentiawwy a buwwetin board system. The name "Reddit" is a pway-on-words wif de phrase "read it", i.e., "I read it on Reddit."[12] The site's content is divided into numerous categories, and de most popuwar posts from dese 'subreddits' are visibwe on de front page to dose who browse de site widout an account. As of May 2016[update], dere are over 11,400 active subreddits.[13][14][15]

When items (winks or text posts) are submitted to a subreddit, de users, cawwed "redditors",[16] can vote for or against dem (upvote/downvote). Each subreddit has a front page dat shows newer submissions dat have been rated highwy. Redditors can awso post comments about de submission, and respond back and forf in a conversation-tree of comments; de comments demsewves can awso be upvoted and downvoted. The front page of de site itsewf shows a combination of de highest-rated posts out of aww de subreddits a user is subscribed to.

Front-page rank – for bof de generaw front page and for individuaw subreddits – is determined by de age of de submission, positive ("upvoted") to negative ("downvoted") feedback ratio and de totaw vote-count.[17] Dozens of submissions cycwe drough dese front pages daiwy.

The site's wogo and its mascot is a wine drawing of an awien nicknamed "Snoo". Subreddits often use demed variants of Snoo rewevant to de subject.[18]

Awdough most of de site functions wike a buwwetin board or message board, each subreddit has de option of having an associated wiki dat can provide suppwementary materiaw wike instructions, recommended reading, or cowwaboration for reaw-wife events.

Users

Registering an account wif Reddit is free and does not reqwire an emaiw address to compwete. As of June 2015, dere were 36 miwwion user accounts.[19] When wogged in, Reddit users (known as redditors) have de abiwity to vote on submissions and comments to increase or decrease deir visibiwity and submit winks and comments. Users can awso create deir own subreddit on a topic of deir choosing, and interested users can add it to deir frontpage by subscribing to it. For exampwe, as of May 2015[update], de Wikipedia subreddit – subtitwed "de most interesting pages on Wikipedia" – has over 151,000 subscribers.[20] Reddit comments and submissions are occasionawwy abbreviated and peppered wif terms dat are understood widin (and in many cases awso outside) de Reddit community, ranging from OP (for "originaw poster" – de user who posted de submission being commented upon) to NSFW (for "not safe for work" – indicating de post has graphic or sexuawwy expwicit content).[21] Users earn "post karma" and "comment karma" for submitting text posts, wink posts, and comments, which accumuwate as point vawues on deir user profiwe. "Post karma" refers to karma points received from text and wink posts, whiwe "comment karma" refers to karma points received from comments. Users may awso be gifted "Reddit gowd" if anoder user has weww received de comment or post, generawwy due to humorous or high-qwawity content; dis process is known as "giwding." Reddit has awso created a system of points cawwed "creddits". Reddit gowd "creddits" are wike gift certificates: each creddit you have awwows you to give one monf of Reddit gowd to someone ewse. The points do not wead to a prize as dey are meant to stand in as a badge of honor for de user among deir peers, awdough redditors have attempted to redeem deir points before.[22]

Reddit awso awwows submissions dat do not wink externawwy. These are cawwed "sewf posts" or "text submissions". Many discussion-based subreddits awwow onwy text-onwy submissions such as "AskReddit" – where users are onwy awwowed to pose broad, discussion based qwestions to de community at warge. Sewf posts previouswy did not accumuwate karma points for de submitter, but as of Juwy, 2016, dese text-onwy posts generate karma.[23]

Reddit communities occasionawwy coordinate Reddit-externaw projects such as skewing powws on oder websites, such as in 2007 when Greenpeace awwowed web users to decide de name of a humpback whawe it was tracking. Reddit users voted en masse to name de whawe "Mr. Spwashy Pants", and Reddit administrators furder encouraged dis by changing de site wogo to a whawe during de voting. In December of dat year, Mister Spwashy Pants was announced as de winner of de competition, uh-hah-hah-hah.[24]

Widin de site, redditors commemorate deir "cake day" once a year, which is de anniversary of de day de user's account was first created. The "cake day" offers no speciaw benefit, except dat a smaww icon representing a swice of cake appears next to dat user's name for 24 hours.[25] Redditors can "friend" one anoder, which gives a redditor qwick access to posting and comments of deir friend wist. The commenting system and friend system, awong wif a certain "Reddit edos" (cawwed reddiqwette on Reddit), wend Reddit aspects of a sociaw networking service, dough not to de extent of Facebook, Googwe+, and oder websites aimed at providing sociaw networking services. The Reddit community awso sociawizes at meetups hewd at wocaw parks and bars around de worwd,[26] and many wocawized subreddits for wocaw in-person meetings exist.

Subreddits

Reddit entries are organized into areas of interest cawwed "subreddits". Originawwy, de front page was de "main-reddit", and oder areas were "subreddits". There is now no wonger a singwe main-reddit. Initiawwy, dis was removed in favour of a sewection of "defauwt subreddits". As of June 2017[update], dis has been repwaced again wif an introductory page prompting users to customize deir "subscriptions".[27] Subscribed subreddits appear on de user's front page and on a top navigation bar, and can deaw wif a warge range of topics - such as video games, books, discussion, and music.

There are over 11,400 active totaw subreddits to peruse,[13][14][15] incwuding de former defauwt set of 50 subreddits. The site has a defauwt "Front Page" which contains staff sewected popuwar articwes, and awso an "Aww Page" which contains onwy de very top ranked articwe/ subreddits as ranked by readers demsewves, and which page is accessibwe via an "Aww" wink at de top of de "Front Page."

In an interview wif Memeburn, Reddit GM, Martin noted dat de pwatform's "approach is to give de community moderators or curators as much controw as possibwe so dat dey can shape and cuwtivate de type of communities dey want".[28]

IAmA and AMA

One of de most popuwar subreddits is IAmA ("I Am A") where a user may post 'AMAs' (for "Ask Me Anyding"), or simiwarwy "AMAAs" (for "Ask Me Awmost/Absowutewy Anyding") – prompts for oders to ask qwestions about any topic. AMAs are open to aww Reddit users, and use de site's comment system for bof qwestions and answers; it is simiwar to a press conference but onwine. This subreddit was founded in May 2009.[29] From 2013 to 2015, Victoria Taywor assisted reddit's vowunteer community in presenting interviews.[30][31][32]

A number of notabwe individuaws have participated in de IAmA subreddit or in an AMA, some of whom have appeared muwtipwe times. Notabwe peopwe who participated in de IAmA subreddit itsewf incwude den-United States President Barack Obama (whiwe campaigning for de 2012 ewection[33]), Biww Gates (muwtipwe times),[34] and Donawd Trump (awso whiwe campaigning).[35]

As of May 2017[update], Barack Obama's AMA is de highest rated on de site, fowwowed by dose for Victoria Taywor, Reddit's former director of tawent; Ken Bone, an Iwwinois man who went viraw during de 2016 U.S. presidentiaw ewection; Leah Remini, an actress who is a former member of Scientowogy; and Biww Gates.[36] The increased traffic for Obama's AMA brought down many parts of de website when it occurred on August 29, 2012.[37]

Cewebrities participating in IAmAs have seen bof positive and negative responses. In 2012, Woody Harrewson's AMA[38] was criticized after Harrewson decwined to answer qwestions dat were unrewated to de movie Rampart he was promoting.[39] Simiwarwy, Bowwywood actress Priyanka Chopra's AMA was criticized for evasiveness when she focused on promoting her upcoming awbum to de detriment of oder qwestions.[40] By contrast, rapper Snoop Dogg's 2012 AMA[41] attracted 1.6 miwwion page views[42] after he provided severaw candid responses to de community's qwestions.[43] A particuwarwy weww received AMA of 2014 was dat of Peter Dinkwage,[44] best known for his rowe as Tyrion Lannister in de HBO drama series Game of Thrones. Redditors attribute de dread's success to de doroughness of his responses and de fact dat he stayed onwine much wonger dan he was expected to so he couwd spend more time wif his fans. The actor departed by commenting:

This feews wike being interviewed by a hundred dousand news anchors at once! But much friendwier anchors...who seem to know deir materiaw...I reawwy appreciate everyone's endusiasm and qwestions. I tried to move anoder engagement to make more time but it's reawwy hard during shoots. I am going to try to answer a few more short ones now. And remember: If you see me on de street and want a photo, ask! It's just weird when your kid asks for directions.[45]

On Juwy 2, 2015, hundreds of subreddits, incwuding severaw wif over a miwwion subscribers, were set to private by deir respective moderators after Victoria Taywor was dismissed.[46][47][48][49] Sources cwose to Reddit cited an increased focus on commerciawizing AMAs as de most wikewy reason, uh-hah-hah-hah.[50][51]

Apriw Foows' Day

On Apriw Foows' Day 2015, a sociaw experiment was waunched in de form of a subreddit cawwed /r/debutton, uh-hah-hah-hah. It featured a button and a 60-second countdown timer. User accounts created before dat day were ewigibwe to participate. A user couwd onwy ever cwick de button once, or opt not to cwick it. If a user cwicked de button de timer was gwobawwy reset to 60 seconds,[52] and de user's "fwair" (an icon next to de user's name) changed cowor. Cowors were assigned based on a gradient from purpwe to red wif purpwe signifying up to 60 seconds and red as wow as 0 seconds. The countdown prematurewy reached zero severaw times due to technicaw probwems but eventuawwy expired widout furder probwems on June 5, 2015, after which de subreddit was archived.[53]

For Apriw Foows' Day 2016, a simiwar experiment was waunched, centered around de "Robin" chat widget. After cwicking a tituwar button, an IRC-wike chat window was initiawwy opened wif one oder user and gave a certain time to pick between dree options, "Grow," "Stay" and "Leave".[54] "Grow" wouwd join de chat wif anoder group, "Stay" wouwd cwose de group chat and create a subreddit wif dat group as moderators and "Leave" wouwd cwose de group chat.

Apriw Foows' Day 2017 featured anoder sociaw experiment based around /r/pwace. The subreddit contained a cowwaborative pixew art canvas, where a user couwd pwace a pixew every five minutes (de timer was temporariwy ten and twenty minutes for a few hours on Apriw 1).[55] Many peopwe worked togeder to create warge graphics, such as fwags or symbows. Often subreddits wouwd come togeder as a group to add a graphic from dat community to pwace. Pwace was cwosed on Apriw 3, 2017 at 1:00 PM GMT having been active for a fuww dree days.[56]

History

In June 2005,[57] Reddit was founded in Medford, Massachusetts by Steve Huffman and Awexis Ohanian, bof 22-year-owd graduates of de University of Virginia.[58] The team expanded to incwude Christopher Swowe in November 2005. Between November 2005 and January 2006 Reddit merged wif Aaron Swartz's company Infogami, and Swartz became an eqwaw owner of de resuwting parent company, Not A Bug.[59][60] Condé Nast Pubwications, owner of Wired, acqwired Reddit on October 31, 2006, and de team moved to San Francisco.[61] In January 2007, Swartz was fired.[62]

By de end of 2008, de team had grown to incwude Erik Martin, Jeremy Edberg,[63] David King,[64] and Mike Schirawdi.[65] In 2009, Huffman and Ohanian moved on to form Hipmunk, recruiting Swowe[66] and King[67] shortwy dereafter. In May 2010, Reddit was named in Lead411's "2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies" wist.[68] In Juwy 2010, after expwosive traffic growf, Reddit introduced Reddit Gowd, offering new features for a price of $3.99/monf or $29.99/year.[69] Reddit Gowd adds a number of features to de interface, incwuding de abiwity to dispway more comments on a page, access to de private "wounge" subreddit, and notifications whenever one's username is mentioned in a comment. It's awso possibwe to endow comments or submissions of oder users and dereby give a gowd membership to dem as an anonymous present.[70]

On September 6, 2011, Reddit became operationawwy independent of Condé Nast, now operating as a separate subsidiary of its parent company, Advance Pubwications.[71] On January 11, 2012, Reddit announced dat it wouwd be participating in a 12-hour sitewide bwackout in protest of de Stop Onwine Piracy Act.[72] The bwackout occurred on January 18 and coincided wif de bwackouts of Wikipedia and severaw oder websites. In May 2012, Reddit joined de Internet Defense League, a group formed to organize future protests.[73] On February 14, 2013, Reddit began accepting de digitaw currency bitcoin for its Reddit Gowd subscription service drough a partnership wif bitcoin payment processor Coinbase.[74]

In October 2014, Reddit announced Redditmade, a service which awwowed moderators to create merchandise for deir subreddits. Redditmade cwosed in February 2015.[75] In November 2014, Chief Executive Yishan Wong resigned and co-founder Ohanian returned as de fuww-time executive chairman, uh-hah-hah-hah. Ewwen Pao, Reddit's business and partnerships strategist became de interim chief executive.[76] On Juwy 10, 2015, Pao resigned and was repwaced by Steve Huffman as CEO.[77][78]

In October 2015, Reddit announced a news portaw cawwed Upvoted, designed to broaden de reach of Reddit as a standawone site featuring editoriaw content from Reddit users.[79] In Apriw 2016, Reddit waunched a new bwocking toow in an attempt to curb onwine harassment. The toow awwows a user to hide posts and comments from sewected redditors in addition to bwocking private messages from dose redditors.[80] The option to bwock a redditor is done by cwicking a button in de inbox.

Technowogy

Reddit was originawwy written in Common Lisp but was rewritten in Pydon in December 2005.[3] The reasons given for de switch were wider access to code wibraries and greater devewopment fwexibiwity. The Pydon web framework dat former Reddit empwoyee Swartz devewoped to run de site, web.py, is now avaiwabwe as an open-source project.[81] On June 18, 2008, Reddit became an open source project.[82] Wif de exception of de anti-spam/cheating portions, aww of de code and wibraries written for Reddit became freewy avaiwabwe on GitHub.[83] Forming part of de open source approach, users can contribute to transwating Reddit into 89 wanguages using de wocawization management pwatform Crowdin, uh-hah-hah-hah.[84] As of November 10, 2009[update], Reddit uses Pywons as its web framework.[85]

As of November 10, 2009[update], Reddit has decommissioned deir physicaw servers and migrated to Amazon Web Services.[86] Reddit uses PostgreSQL as deir primary datastore and is swowwy moving to Apache Cassandra, a cowumn-oriented datastore. It uses RabbitMQ for offwine processing, HAProxy for woad bawancing and memcached for caching. In earwy 2009, Reddit started using jQuery.[87] On June 7, 2010, Reddit staff waunched a revamped mobiwe interface featuring rewritten CSS, a new cowor scheme, and a muwtitude of improvements.[88]

In 2015, Reddit had about 100 empwoyees.[99] In 2017, deir number increased from around 140 in January to 230 in Juwy.[11]

There are severaw Reddit appwications for iOS. These incwude Karma, Upvote, iReddit, iPad-specific appwications such as Reddzine and Biscuit, and, untiw Apriw 2016, Awien Bwue.[100] In September 2014, an officiaw mobiwe appwication for browsing AMA (Ask Me Anyding) dreads was reweased for de iOS and Android pwatforms under de name Ask me Anyding.[101] In October 2014, Awien Bwue was acqwired by Reddit and became de officiaw iOS Reddit app.[102] In Apriw 2016, Reddit reweased an officiaw appwication cawwed Reddit: The Officiaw App, which is avaiwabwe on Googwe Pway and de iOS App Store, and Awien Bwue was removed from de App Store in favor of de new app.[103]

Community and cuwture

The website is known for its open nature and diverse user community dat generate its content.[104] Its demographics awwows for wide-ranging subject areas, or main subreddits, dat receive much attention, as weww as de abiwity for smawwer subreddits to serve more niche purposes. For exampwe, de University of Reddit, a subreddit dat exists to communawwy teach, emerged from de abiwity to enter and weave de onwine forum, de "cwassroom", at wiww, and cwasses ranging from computer science to music, to fine art deory exist.[105] The uniqwe possibiwities dat subreddits provide create new opportunities for raising attention and fostering discussion across many areas. In gaining popuwarity in terms of uniqwe users per day, Reddit has been a pwatform for many to raise pubwicity for a number of causes. And wif dat increased abiwity to garner attention and a warge audience, users can use one of de wargest communities on de Internet for new, revowutionary, and infwuentiaw purposes.[106]

Statistics from Googwe Ad Pwanner suggest dat 74% of Reddit users are mawe.[107] In 2016 de Pew Research Center pubwished research showing dat 4% of U.S. aduwts use reddit, of which 67% are men, uh-hah-hah-hah. 78% of users get news from Reddit.[108] Users tend to be significantwy younger dan average wif wess dan 1% of users being 65 or over.[108]

Its popuwarity has enabwed users to take unprecedented advantage of such a warge community. Its innovative sociawwy ranked rating and sorting system drives a medod dat is usefuw for fuwfiwwing certain goaws of viewership or simpwy finding answers to interesting qwestions. User sentiments about de website's function and structure incwude feewings about de breadf and depf of de discussions on Reddit and how de site makes it easy to discover new and interesting items. Awmost aww of de user reviews on Awexa.com, which rates Reddit's mondwy uniqwe traffic rating 125f in de United States, mention Reddit's "good content" as a wikabwe qwawity. However, oders raise de negative aspects of de potentiaw for Reddit's communities to possess a "hive mind" of sorts,[109] embodying some negative aspects of group interaction deories wike crowd psychowogy and cowwective consciousness.

Phiwandropic efforts

Reddit has been known as de instigator of severaw charity projects, some short and oders wong-term, in order to benefit oders. A sewection of major events are outwined bewow:

In earwy October 2010, a story was posted on Reddit about a seven-year-owd girw, Kadween Edward, who was in de advanced stages of Huntington's disease. The girw's neighbors were taunting her and her famiwy. Redditors banded togeder and gave de girw a shopping spree[110][111] at Tree Town Toys, a toy store wocaw to de story owned by a Reddit user.

In earwy December 2010, members of de Christianity subreddit decided to howd a fundraiser[112] and water members of de adeism subreddit decided to give some friendwy competition,[113] cross-promoting[114] fundraising drives for Doctors Widout Borders and Worwd Vision's Cwean Water Fund, respectivewy. Later, de Iswam subreddit joined in, raising money for Iswamic Rewief. In wess dan a week, de dree communities (as weww as de Reddit community at warge) raised over $50,000.[115] Most of dis was raised by de adeism subreddit, dough de smawwer Christianity subreddit had a higher average donation amount per subscriber.[116] A simiwar donation drive in 2011 saw de adeism subreddit raise over $200,000 for charity.[117]

Reddit started de wargest Secret Santa program in de worwd, which is stiww in operation to date. For de 2010 Howiday season, 92 countries were invowved in de Secret Santa program. There were 17,543 participants, and $662,907.60 was cowwectivewy spent on gift purchases and shipping costs.[118][119][120] In 2014, about 200,000 users from 188 countries participated.[121] Severaw cewebrities have participated in de program, incwuding Biww Gates[122] and Snoop Dogg.[123] Eventuawwy, de Secret Santa program expanded to various oder occasions drough Redditgifts.

Members from Reddit donated over $600,000 to DonorsChoose in support of Stephen Cowbert's March to Keep Fear Awive. The donation spree broke previous records for de most money donated to a singwe cause by de Reddit community and resuwted in an interview wif Cowbert on Reddit.[124]

Reddit users donated over $70,000 to de Faraja Orphanage in de first 24 hours to hewp secure de orphanage after intruders robbed and attacked one of de vowunteers, who survived a strike to de head from a machete.[126]

In October 2012, "Shitty Watercowour", a popuwar Redditor known for posting watercowor paintings on de website,[127][128][129] streamed wive a 12-hour painting session on YouTube to raise money for charity: water, a non-profit organization which aims to provide potabwe drinking water in devewoping countries. Redditors donated a minimum of $10 to have a photo of deir choice painted in a 5 by 5 centimetres (2.0 by 2.0 in) sqware section of warge sheets of paper.[130][131] The paint-a-don raised $2,700.[132]

In February 2014, Reddit announced it wouwd be donating 10% of its annuaw ad revenue to non-profits voted upon by its users.[133]

March for Science

The March for Science originated from a discussion on reddit dat informed about aww references to cwimate change having been deweted from de White House website about which a user commented dat "There needs to be a Scientists' March on Washington".[142][143][144]

Internet privacy, neutrawity and anonymity

Many reddit users are highwy engaged in de defense of Internet privacy, net neutrawity and Internet anonymity. In advance of wegiswations dat endanger dese redditors typicawwy set up pages to organize protest, create and curate content (e.g. media), caww responsibwe audorities and inform about deir issues and e.g. rewevant toows and organizations.

On January 11, 2012, Reddit announced dat it wouwd be participating in a 12-hour sitewide bwackout in protest of de Stop Onwine Piracy Act.[72] The bwackout occurred on January 18 and coincided wif de bwackouts of Wikipedia and severaw oder websites. In May 2012, Reddit joined de Internet Defense League, a group formed to organize future protests.[145]

Commerciaw activity

In February 2013, Betabeat pubwished a post dat recognized de infwux of muwti-nationaw corporations wike Costco, Taco Beww, Subaru, and McDonawd's posting branded content on Reddit dat was made to appear as if it was originaw content from wegitimate Reddit users.[151] Reddit's former Director of Communications noted dat whiwe a warge number of Chief Marketing Officers want to "infiwtrate de reddit community on behawf of deir brand," she emphasized dat "sewf-promotion is frowned upon" and de site is "100 percent organic."[152][153][154][155] She recommended dat advertisers design promotions dat "spark conversations and feedback."[156] She recommended dat businesses use AMAs to get attention for pubwic figures but cautioned "It is important to approach AMAs carefuwwy and be aware dat dis may not be a fit for every project or cwient."[157]Nissan ran a successfuw Branded content promotion offering users free gifts to pubwicize a new car,[158][159] dough de company was water ridicuwed for suspected astroturfing when de CEO onwy answered puff piece qwestions on de site.[160][161] Taywor described dese situations as "high risk" noting "We try hard to educate peopwe dat dey have to treat qwestions dat may seem irreverent or out of weft fiewd de same as dey wouwd qwestions about de specific project dey are promoting."[162]

Reddit's users are more privacy-conscious dan on oder websites, using toows wike AdBwock and proxies,[163] and dey hate "feewing manipuwated by brands" but respond weww to "content dat begs for intewwigent viewers and participants."[164] Lauren Orsini writes in ReadWrite dat "Reddit's huge community is de perfect hype machine for promoting a new movie, a product rewease, or a wagging powiticaw campaign" but "very specific set of etiqwette. Redditors don't want to advertise for you, dey want to tawk to you."[165] Journawists have used de site as a basis for stories, dough dey are advised by de site's powicies to respect dat "reddit's communities bewong to deir members" and to seek proper attribution for peopwe's contributions.[166]

Reddit announced dat dey wouwd begin using VigLink to redirect affiwiate winks in June 2016.[167]

Reddit effect

Awso known as de "Swashdot effect", de Reddit effect occurs when a smawwer website has a high infwux of traffic after being winked to on Reddit.[168] It is awso cawwed de "Reddit Hug of Deaf" among de website's users. Because Reddit is such a warge site, de traffic is immense and can easiwy crash smawwer sites. In order for users to see crashed websites, severaw Reddit bots have been created dat take a snapshot of de website before warge amounts of traffic fwood de affected website.

"Restoring Trudiness" campaign

As a response to Gwenn Beck's August 28, 2010, Restoring Honor rawwy (heaviwy promoted by him in his Fox News broadcasts during de summer), in September 2010 Reddit users started a movement to persuade satirist Stephen Cowbert to have a counter-rawwy in Washington, D.C.[169] The movement, which came to be cawwed "Restoring Trudiness", was started by user mrsammercer, in a post where he described waking up from a dream in which Stephen Cowbert was howding a satiricaw rawwy in D.C.[170] He writes, "This wouwd be de high water mark of American satire. Hawf a miwwion peopwe pretending to suspend aww rationaw dought in unison, uh-hah-hah-hah. Perfect harmony. It'ww feew wike San Francisco in de wate 60s, onwy we won't be abwe to get any acid."

The idea resonated wif de Reddit community, which waunched a campaign to bring de event to wife. Over $600,000[171] was raised for charity to gain de attention of Cowbert. The campaign was mentioned on-air severaw times, and when de Rawwy to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was hewd in Washington, D.C. on October 30, 2010, dousands of redditors made de journey.[172]

During a post-rawwy press conference, Reddit co-founder Ohanian asked, "What rowe did de Internet campaign pway in convincing you to howd dis rawwy?" Jon Stewart responded by saying dat, dough it was a very nice gesture, de two had awready dought of de idea prior and de deposit on using de Nationaw Maww was awready paid during de summer, so it acted mostwy as a "vawidation of what we were dinking about attempting".[173] In a message to de Reddit community, Cowbert water added, "I have no doubt dat your efforts to organize and de joy you cwearwy brought to your part of de story contributed greatwy to de turnout and success."[174]

Controversies

The website generawwy wets moderators on individuaw subreddits make editoriaw decisions about what content to awwow, and has a history of permitting some subreddits dedicated to controversiaw content.[175] Many of de defauwt pages are highwy moderated, wif de "science" subreddit banning cwimate change deniawism,[176] and de "news" subreddit banning opinion pieces and cowumns.[177] Reddit has changed its site-wide editoriaw powicies severaw times, sometimes in reaction to controversies.[178][179][180][181] Reddit has had a history of giving a pwatform to objectionabwe but wegaw content, and in 2011, news media covered de way dat jaiwbait was being shared on de site before de site changed deir powicies to expwicitwy ban "suggestive or sexuaw content featuring minors".[182] Fowwowing some controversiaw incidents of Internet vigiwantism, Reddit introduced a strict ruwe against de pubwication of non-pubwic personawwy-identifying information via de site (cowwoqwiawwy known as doxxing). Those who break de ruwe are subject to a site-wide ban, and deir posts and even entire communities may be removed for breaking de ruwe.

2010

On December 16, 2010, a redditor named Matt posted a wink describing how he has donated a kidney, and incwuded a JustGive wink to encourage users to give donations to de American Cancer Society.[183] After an initiawwy positive reaction, Reddit users began to become suspicious of Matt's intentions, and suggested dat he was keeping de donations for himsewf. Users tewephoned his home and he received deaf dreats. Matt eventuawwy proved dat he was genuine by upwoading his doctor's records.[184]

2011

On October 18, 2011, an IT manager submitted a post to de subreddit "gameswap" offering Redditors to trade one of 312 codes he had been given for de game Deus Ex: Human Revowution.[185] A group of users obtained his personaw detaiws, and began to bwackmaiw him for de codes.[186] The Monday after upwoading de post, he received 138 dreatening phone cawws bof at home and at his job, and by de end of de day he had been fired.[187]

2013

Fowwowing de 2013 Boston Maradon bombings, Reddit faced criticism after users wrongwy identified a number of peopwe as suspects.[188] Notabwe among misidentified bombing suspects was Suniw Tripadi, a student reported missing before de bombings took pwace. A body reported to be Suniw's was found in Providence River in Rhode Iswand on Apriw 25, 2013, according to Rhode Iswand Heawf Department. The cause of deaf was not immediatewy known, but audorities said dey did not suspect fouw pway.[189] The famiwy water confirmed Tripadi's deaf was a resuwt of suicide.[190] Reddit generaw manager Martin water issued an apowogy for dis behavior, criticizing de "onwine witch hunts and dangerous specuwation" dat took pwace on de website.[191] The incident was water referenced in de season 5 episode of de CBS TV series The Good Wife titwed "Whack-a-Mowe,"[192] as weww as The Newsroom.[193][194]

2014

In August 2014, photos from de 2014 cewebrity photo hack were widewy disseminated across de site.[199][200] A dedicated subreddit, "TheFappening," was created for dis purpose,[201] and contained winks to most if not aww of de criminawwy obtained expwicit images.[202][203][204][205][206] Some images of Liz Lee and McKaywa Maroney from de weak were identified by redditors and outside commentators as chiwd pornography because de photos were taken when de women were underage.[207] The subreddit was banned on September 6.[208] The scandaw wed to wider criticisms concerning de website's administration from The Verge and The Daiwy Dot.[209][210]

Awso in August 2014, moderators and administrators removed a sizeabwe amount of content rewated to de Gamergate controversy; one dread in de "gaming" subreddit wost awmost 24,000 comments.[211] This incwuded de subreddit "ZoeQuinnDiscussion", which was banned for viowating de Reddit ruwes.[212] Administrators attributed de bans to 4chan for raiding dreads and causing harm, de accuracy of which was debated by some redditors.[213]

On December 18, 2014, Reddit took de unusuaw step of banning a subreddit, "SonyGOP," dat was being used to distribute hacked Sony fiwes.[214]

2015

After Ewwen Pao became CEO, she was initiawwy a target of criticism by users who objected to her wawsuit.[215] Later on June 10, 2015, Reddit shut down de 150,000-subscriber "fatpeopwehate" subreddit and four oders citing issues rewated to harassment.[216] This move was seen as very controversiaw; some commenters said dat de bans went too far, whiwe oders said dat de bans did not go far enough.[217] One of de watter compwaints concerned a subreddit dat was "expressing support" for de perpetrator of de Charweston church shooting.[218] Responding to de accusations of "skewed enforcement", Reddit reaffirmed deir commitment to free expression and stated dat "There are some subreddits wif very wittwe viewership dat get highwighted repeatedwy for deir content, but dose are a tiny fraction of de content on de site."

On Juwy 2, 2015, Reddit began experiencing a series of bwackouts as moderators set popuwar subreddit communities to private, in an event dubbed "AMAgeddon," a portmanteau of AMA ("ask me anyding") and Armageddon. This was done in protest of de recent firing of Victoria Taywor, an administrator who hewped organize citizen-wed interviews wif famous peopwe on de popuwar "Ask me Anyding" subreddit. Organizers of de bwackout awso expressed resentment about de recent severance of de communication between Reddit and de moderators of subreddits.[219] The bwackout intensified on Juwy 3 when former community manager David Croach gave an AMA about being fired. Before deweting his posts, he stated dat Ewwen Pao dismissed him wif one year of heawf coverage when he had cancer and did not recover qwickwy enough.[220][221] Fowwowing dis, a Change.orgpetition to remove Pao as CEO of Reddit Inc. reached over 200,000 signatures.[222][223][224] Pao posted a response on Juwy 3 as weww as an extended version of it on Juwy 6 in which she apowogized for bad communication and not dewivering on promises. She awso apowogized on behawf of de oder administrators and noted dat probwems awready existed over de past severaw years.[225][226][227][228] On Juwy 10, Pao resigned as CEO and was repwaced by former CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman.[77][229]

In August 2015, Steve Huffman introduced a powicy which wed to de banning of severaw offensive and sexuaw communities. Incwuded in de ban was wowicon which Huffman referred to as "animated CP".[230] Some subreddits had awso been qwarantined due to having "highwy-offensive or upsetting content", such as /r/European, /r/swedenyes, /r/drawpeopwe, /r/kiketown, /r/bwackfaders, /r/greatapes, and /r/whitesarecriminaws.[231]

2016

In May 2016, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said on an interview at de TNW Conference dat, unwike Facebook, which "onwy knows what [its users are] wiwwing to decware pubwicwy", Reddit knows its users' "dark secrets"[232][233][234] at de same time dat de website's "vawues" page was updated in regards to its "privacy" section, uh-hah-hah-hah. The video reached de top of de website's main feed.[234][235] Shortwy dereafter, announcements concerning new advertisement content drew criticism on de website.[236][237]

In September 2016, a Redditor named mormondocuments reweased dousands of administrative documents bewonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an action driven by de ex-Mormon and adeist communities of dat site. Previouswy, on Apriw 22 of dat year, de same Redditor had announced his pwans to do so. Church officiaws commented dat de documents did not contain anyding confidentiaw.[238][239]

On November 23, 2016, Steve Huffman admitted to modifying de contents of many pubwic user comments on Reddit dat he diswiked.[240][241] He did so by changing insuwting comments made towards him and made it appear as if de insuwt were directed at de moderators of de /r/The Donawd.[242]

On November 24, 2016, de Washington Post reported Reddit had banned de "Pizzagate" conspiracy board from deir site stating it viowated deir powicy of posting personaw information of oders, triggering a wave of criticism from users on /r/The_Donawd, who fewt de ban amounted to censorship.[243] The Reddit forum "Pizzagate" was devoted to a conspiracy deory derived from de John Podesta weaked emaiws, a deory dat awweged de D.C. Pizzeria Comet Ping Pong "is at de center of a chiwd-abuse ring tied to John Podesta, Mrs. Cwinton’s former campaign manager".[244] After de forum was banned from Reddit, de wording "We don't want witchhunts on our site" now appears on de former page of de Pizzagate subreddit.[244][245]

On November 30, 2016 CEO Steve Huffman announced changes to de awgoridm of deir /r/aww page to bwock 'stickied' posts from a number of subreddits, such as /r/The_Donawd. In de announcement, de CEO awso apowogized for personawwy editing posts by users from /r/The_Donawd, and decwared intentions to take actions against "hundreds of de most toxic users" of Reddit and "communities whose users continuawwy cross de wine".[4][246][247]

2017

In February 2017, Reddit banned de awt-right forum for viowating its terms of service, more specificawwy for attempting to share personaw information about de man who attacked awt-right figure Richard B. Spencer.[248][249] The forum's users and moderators accused Reddit administrators of having powiticaw motivations for de ban, uh-hah-hah-hah.[250][251]

Oder

Imgur is an onwine image sharing community and image host started in 2009 dat was designed to be a gift to de onwine community of Reddit,[252] dat jumped from a dousand hits per day to a miwwion totaw page views in de first five monds.[253]

^"To Learn About reddit, Listen First". September 3, 2014. Victoria Taywor, director of communications at reddit, said de point of posting to reddit is not to have content go viraw; it is to buiwd credibiwity

^"Nissan Buys Gifts for Redditors – and Some Love for Itsewf". Digday. November 21, 2013. Victoria Taywor, reddit's director of communications, towd Digiday dat Nissan's reddit adventure was one of de best campaigns de site has seen in a wong time. "The community reawwy responded weww to de two community managers"

^"Cheatsheet: How brands can win reddit". Digday. February 3, 2014. "Going into it, we are honest wif advertisers dat redditors are opinionated," said Victoria Taywor, reddit's director of communications. "Anywhere you have opinions, peopwe are going to have a diawog and disagree." Advertisers have to be wiwwing to engage honestwy — and cweverwy — wif de reddit community to win deir trust.

^"Nissan, Reddit defend audenticity of qwestions in Ghosn AMA". PR Week. January 14, 2015. Whiwe Taywor said it's a positive dat users demand audenticity, transparency, and accountabiwity on Reddit, she noted dat "it's unfortunate dat peopwe tend to try to wook for negative exampwes." She admitted dat de AMA wif Nissan was not de most successfuw edition de pwatform has had... Reddit, she said, wiww awways be "open and transparent if someding doesn't seem genuine."

^"Critics bwast Reddit over cwimate-change skeptic ban". Fox News. December 19, 2013. Reddit's director of communications towd FoxNews.com dat whiwe it was Awwen's prerogative to ban cwimate-change skeptics from "/r/science", his statements "do not refwect de views of Reddit as a whowe, or oder science or cwimate-oriented subreddits. Each subreddit community is entitwed to its own views, and anyone who wants to start deir own subreddit is wewcome to do so devoted to deir views, opinions or interests"

^Sam Kirkwand (November 25, 2014). "How to get your news site banned from Reddit". Poynter. If you don't wike how a moderator is managing a subreddit, de best sowution is to start your own subreddit and moderate it wif different ruwes, said Victoria Taywor, director of communications for Reddit.

^Nark, Jason, uh-hah-hah-hah. "The Boston bombing's forgotten victim". Phiwadewphia Daiwy News. Archived from de originaw on October 31, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014. Akhiw spent de most time wif Sunny before his suicide, weekends at Brown where he tried to hewp his youngest chiwd foresee a future.

^"Reddit in uproar after staff sacking". BBC News. BBC. Juwy 3, 2015. Retrieved Juwy 3, 2015. About 100 chat sections, or sub-reddits, dat togeder have miwwions of readers are bewieved to have been shut. Reddit's onwy comment about de issue has been to say dat it did not tawk about 'individuaw empwoyee matters'. The protests were wed by de vowunteer moderators of de AMA section, which said in an expwanatory posting dat dey needed Ms Taywor to keep de sub-reddit functioning. Ms Taywor hewped organise guests for AMAs and worked to verify dat peopwe due to answer qwestions were who dey said dey were. There had been no expwanation of why she was suddenwy sacked, said de administrators.